CMI briefingSC DPHHealthcare Operations

SC DPH hospital licensure

This is the SC Department of Public Health webpage governing hospital licensure requirements, incident reporting procedures, and licensure application forms for South Carolina hospitals and institutional general infirmaries.

Updated Aug 30, 2026

This page is CMI's own briefing on the topic, written by CMI. It is not the text of the regulation. Read the regulation itself in the Regulatory hub.

Updated: July 9, 2026

Licensure Requirement

Hospitals may not be established, operated, or maintained in South Carolina without first obtaining a license from DPH in the manner provided by Article 3, Chapter 7, Title 44 of the South Carolina Code of Laws and DPH regulations. The most commonly used DPH forms pertaining to hospital licensure requirements are provided on this page.

Amended Reporting Requirement Updates

Until we are able to make permanent changes to our electronic system, we request hospitals and infirmaries to make incident/accident reports as follows:

  • For the incident report required pursuant to Section 701.B, which is required to be submitted within twenty-four (24) hours or by the next regular business day from when the facility had reasonable cause to believe an incident occurred, please utilize the "24-hour Report" as the type of report.
  • For the written investigation report required pursuant Section 701.C, which is required to be submitted within seven (7) business days from when the facility had reasonable cause to believe an incident occurred, please utilize the "10 Day Report" as the type of report.

To the extent the reportable incident is not included in the drop-down list of types of accident/incident, please select "Other" and further describe the reportable incident in the following box.

Licensure Applications and Emergency Services

As we make these updates and with respect to Section 1201.D.4, we ask hospitals to include their emergency services classifications for its on-campus emergency service, and if applicable, off-campus emergency service, on a separate attachment/enclosure to the hospital licensure application.

Forms

  • Application for Licensure (pdf)
  • Administrator Change Form
  • Emergency Evacuation Plan Form
  • Internal Medical Surge Form
  • Submit Plan of Correction (POC)
  • Submit Accident/Incident Form

Maps

  • Find A Facility - Hospitals

Regulations and Laws

Tags: Loss of an Essential Service

General information, not legal advice. Requirements change; confirm against the official source before you act, or ask us how this applies to your organization.